The results of the Harris poll have been widely publicized here already, including this one by Kos. However, it is appearing on the front page of Yahoo today, as I am sitting here proctoring an exam, I figured I'd share some thoughts as I read through it.
"38 percent say he wants to take away Americans' right to own guns" - actually, one of the fairer results. After all, we can all only speculate as to what the President WANTS to do. In terms of his actually stated objectives, well...
"32 percent say he is a Muslim" - really, don't you just want to follow that up with a big "WHY?" For goodness sake, one of the biggest "scandals" of his campaign was his membership in a particular Christian church.
"29 percent think he wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government" - again, "Why? Why do you think that? I guess the question allows for the wiggle room since it goes to what he "wants" again, but still... some facts? Can't we follow that up?
"29 percent think he has done many things that are unconstitutional" - well, we have some definitional issues here; first, what is "many", and second, what is "unconstitutional"? Has the President done things that are arguably unconstitutional? Probably, as have all of his predecessors.
"27 percent say he resents America's heritage" - I don't even really understand what the hell this means, so if I had been polled I would have ended up in the "undecided" column. Suffice to say, I think the President would have to agree that he has done pretty well here in America.
"27 percent say he does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do" - strangely, I can't actually find the break down for this question, in terms of party ID. The Yahoo story doesn't link to the Harris poll, neither does Kos' post or a few of the other previous diaries, and a Google search came up with a bunch of sites that "may be harmful to my computer". Tried to access anyway, turns out my computer is cowardly, refused to go. If anyone can link me directly to the Harris poll, that would be great.
"25 percent say he was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president". - Sigh. That's all I have to say. Actually, I do have something else to add- next time, could they split that into two questions? I want to see how many people either believe he wasn't born in the US, but is eligible anyway, or believe he was born in the US but is ineligible for some other reason- may be some people believe he is too young?
"25 percent say he is a domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of." - Also mentioned in The Book of Revelations, see below.
"23 percent say he is a racist" - again, who knows what lurks in the hearts of men. Besides, as the puppets say, aren't we all a little bit racist?
"23 percent say he is anti-American" - I own a Nissan and a Honda, and most of my clothes come from China. I also root against any Olympic athlete I perceive to be obnoxious, regardless of what country they are from. On an encouraging note, since 25% seemingly believe he is not an American but only 23% believe he is anti-American, it appears some at least give him the benefit of the doubt that he loves his adopted home.
"23 percent say he wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers" - there's that "wants" again. Curious about the breakdown along party lines.
"20 percent say he is doing many of the things that Hitler did." - Not for nothing, but the 20% are right. Brushes his teeth, pees standing up, at least part of most 24 hr cycles, eats solid foods. Really, when you think about it, they are 99% genetically similar.
"The whammy: 14 percent of Americans say President Barack Obama may be the anti-Christ. When split by political party, 24 percent of Republicans and 6 percent of Democrats viewed the nation's leader in this way." - Okay, a few thoughts. First off, who the hell are the 6% of Democrats? If you want to say that it's Republicans posing as Democrats to distort the results, well, doesn't call the whole poll into question. If not, could the 6% please step forward for a word?
Next thought- what percentage of the population actually believes there is an anti-Christ? And, in fairness, shouldn't the name George Bush have been thrown out there, let's see how those numbers come in? And, let's look for overlap, maybe there are those who belive that "anti-Christ" means anyone who is, well, not Christ.
Those are my thoughts.